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Historic Bird Count Charts and Check List

• Bosque del Apache NWR Waterbird Counts (3 Pages pdf file - very small file - 90K)
  
• Middle Rio Grande Valley-Wide Crane and Snow Goose Counts:(4 pages pdf file - very small file 100K)
  
• Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge Bird Check List (pdf)

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E-Bird Trail Tracker
(Please scroll up for Current Bird Counts counted and updated weekly by Refuge staff from November through February)

What is eBird Trail Tracker? eBird Trail Tracker is an electronic gateway created and maintained by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to gather information on bird sightings. It enables you to find out which birds are being reported and where at the Refuge, and to record your own sightings.
Be sure to enter your sightings at the new eBird Trail Tracker the next time you visit our refuge!
Please return to this site to see what's being seen at Bosque del Apache NWR!

Friends & Refuge News

• Upcoming Hummingbird Photography Workshop Saturday, June 30th. More information.
  
  
  
• Birding in Peru! The Friends are facilitating a birding trip to Peru in May 2013. Deadline for enrollment is 1/2/13. Read More!


• Bosque del Apache is currently seeking photos for use in new exhibits. More information on the Call for Photos (pdf file)
  
  
• Bosque del Apache NWR is on Facebook!
  
  
  
  
• E.C.O.L.A.B. (Every Child Outside Learning About Bosque)
  We, the Friends are partnering with Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, San Antonio Elementary and Audubon New Mexico for this intensive environmental education program! Please see information and photos of our special program - E.C.O.L.A.B.
  
  
• April 2012 Bosque Watch Newsletter available for download along with all other issues and Habitat! Click Newsletters
  
  
• We are deeply saddened for the family and friends of Betty Davis, past President and tremendous volunteer for the Friends of the Bosque. We cannot express enough gratitude for her many years of help and dedication to the Refuge and the Friends. She was committed to helping birds and wildlife, and spent her retirement years doing so, actively supporting the Friends' educational projects, getting the visitors' center at the Refuge and money for renovations, and working to support the Refuge. She was a great friend to wildlife, and she will be missed! Read About Betty
  
  
  
  
• I have enjoyed creating and maintaining each of the Friends' websites since 2007, and appreciate all your letters, support and encouragement . It has been a labor of love for me, and now I turn them all over to the Friends' board of directors. I will continue my support of our beautiful Refuge - on the Internet, in print and in many other ways! Feb 1, 2012 Sandy Seth
  
  
• The recipient of the 2011 Martha Hatch Award is Tom Sizemore. Previous recipients have been Sandy Seth, 2010, Barbara DuBois, 2009, Jon Morrison 2008, Roy Poole, Phil Norton, John Bertrand, Robert Kruidenier, Jerry Goffe, Betty Davis, Steve Green, Park Borgeson and Percy Deal. "This Award is given to the person who best exhibits the characteristics of an ideal volunteer and who has made outstanding volunteer contributions to the Friends and the Refuge. The Award is named after Martha Hatch, who was the Friends first newsletter editor, and who gave 6 years of dedicated service in that capacity."
  
  
• The Festival of the Cranes was great again this year! People were thrilled with the schedule of events and the two keynote speakers. Festival of the Cranes.com for everything about the Festival, and our Festival blog for news on workshop and tours and more!
  
  
• We say farewell to our wonderful Festival Coordinator Robyn Harrison, who has successfully orchestrated this complex event for the last four years. We are proud to welcome Michael Hanauer into the Coordinator role, and we know that he will help us to make the 25th Festival of the Cranes one to remember!
  
  
• New Bicycle Routes are for the Birds
  Bicyclists will be able to explore the Refuge in an exciting new way beginning in Fall 2011. The East Low Flow Conveyance Channel service road, which offers almost 9 miles of contiguous gravel roadway with little to no vehicular traffic, provides a relaxing bicycle ride with the opportunity to catch a glimpse of some of the more secretive wildlife that call the Refuge home. Other portions of the Refuge open to year round bicycling include NM Highway 1, the Point of Lands Scenic Overlook, and the two-way road bisecting the Auto Tour Loop. During the summer months the Farm and Marsh Loops of the Auto Tour Loop will be open to bicycle traffic. To reduce disturbance to migratory waterfowl during times of peak migration, these same Loops are now closed to bicycle traffic from October 1 through March 31. Years of observation by Refuge biologists have shown that during the fall and winter, bicycling along the Tour Loops significantly disturbs the cranes, geese and ducks for which the Refuge was established. The birds are more likely to be stressed and waste energy fleeing the erratic, predator-like movement of bicycles than a vehicle or person on foot. Increased stress levels can also make wildlife more vulnerable to disease or predators. The Refuge encourages visitors to utilize bicycles, an environmentally friendly form of alternative transportation, to enjoy their National Wildlife Refuge. These seasonal changes in bicycle use will provide miles of new trails while minimizing disturbance to wildlife at Bosque del Apache NWR.
  
  
• All remaining 2011 Festival of the Cranes merchandise is available for sale in our Bosque Nature Store where you can pay securely with your credit card through PayPal
  

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• New Friends' Board of Directors elected at the Friends' Annual Meeting on October 15th. We heard about Refuge and Friends activities and accomplishments during the last year. The afternoon featured an activity in a restoration area working with Refuge staff, volunteers and families from surrounding communities to plant native grasses, shrubs, and trees. It was a fun success! See also: volplantingday.pdf
  
  
• Our Refuge, our birdwatchers made history! The American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) which is the body responsible for English bird names and scientific nomenclature, has recognized a recent series of spectacular sightings made by birdwatchers. It added seven birds to the roster of species known to occur in the United States. The sighting of the Sungrebe which was photographed at Bosque del Apache NWR, New Mexico, in 2008 during the Festival of the Cranes, has changed the raised the number of birds recognized in North America entirely! See A new look at the family tree an article in Birdwatching Daily.
  
  Click here for archive info on sighting 2008 Festival of the Cranes image © JROLDENETTEL
  
  
• Upcoming Board Meetings- you are invited to attend- We need and appreciate your input!
  Check back for 2012 dates. Lannan Annex, Bosque del Apache NWR
  
  

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• Check out our live Refuge camera operating here camera.friendsofthebosque.org This camera was donated in honor of Friends Lifetime Member Harvey Furgatch. The camera captures images of the display pond and the Flight Deck pond in the fall/winter when those areas are interesting, and the hummingbird feeder area outside of the Visitor Center during the spring and summer.
  
  
• Fascinating Refuge Projects descriptions amd wonderful, informative Posters - Bees, Endangered Meadow Jumping Mouse, Yellow Billed Cuckoo, rattlesnake research, Puma Research, Avian influenzia, Riparian evapotranspiration studies, Fish and Invert studies, Rio Grande Silvery Minnow life stages, and much more (thank you Ashley Inslee Refuge Biologist)
  
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• Get Involved!
  The Friends are seeking members who wish to expand their commitment by serving on committees or as board members. Skills vary with position but two essentials are a love for the refuge and enthusiasm for pursuing the mission of the Friends. For further information, please contact our Executive Director, Leigh Ann Vradenburg at 1-575-838-2120 or friends@sdc.org
  
  
• We have a help page with fun and exciting news and reviews and recommendations for New Ways To Bird. Many of you have asked for a discussion of Birding Applications, Online Birding Guides and Birding Software. Now New Ways To Bird posted March 28, 2010 was written to help you, our Friends look at what's out there and decide what to do. Do you want to "carry the world in your pocket" with the great new and detailed guides available on a small device (say the iPod or your phone?) These have photos, range maps, bird sounds and calls along with amazing detailed information in easy to use and easy to search applications! Wait till you read about eBird (which guides you right to the birds which have been recently sighted- a revolutionary new application by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society)
  Many of the other guides reviewed are created by the very same people who created the guides you probably already own - Sibley, Audubon, National Geographic , Peterson and so on.
  What about taking 6 or more bird guides with you on a tiny, lightweight device, and adding a Guide to Trees, one to Mammals and another to Wildflowers? You'd still have lots of room for more!
  Then there are the Free Online Guides- read all about them here
  Introduction
  Online Birding Guides
  Birding Apps & More
  Birding Software
  ABA Code of Birding Ethics
  
  
• A Charming video produced by NMSU about Sandhill Cranes told from their point of view by Sandy, the Sandhill crane! This is a must see, and is fantastic for children and adults alike. The video is very well done. It is around 17 minutes long and tells the history of the Bosque and Our Sandhill Cranes! www.friendsofthebosque.org/videos
  
  
• Public Notices direct from the Refuge are located hereBosque del Apache NWR Public Notices
  
  
• Leigh Ann Vradenburg, Executive Director of the Friends, has a Twitter account to keep us apprised of interesting sightings and other special things! Check it out here:www.twitter.com/friendsofbosque
  
  

• In coordination with the family of G. Emerson Learn III, the Friends of the Bosque del Apache has established the Emerson Learn Bus Scholarship Endowment. Through this endowment started in Emerson's memory, the Friends will create a permanent fund to provide stipends for New Mexico schools to visit the Refuge.
  
  
• 10 Million Year Old Fossil Discovered at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge! See Story here
  

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• We have a wonderful, creative story by Jenna Melanson on our Youth pages. Please read it here at Kid Talk You will love it!
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• Fantastic News!! The Friends of the Bosque and the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge are thrilled and honored to announce that our very own Friend John Bertrand has been chosen to receive the 2008 National Volunteer of the Year Award for the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA) and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)! We knew we were lucky to have John donating his time and talents to the Friends of the Bosque and the Refuge, but now the whole nation will know what a wonderful volunteer he is!
  Many fine volunteers across the nation were nominated, and John was chosen for his unparalleled dedication and his remarkable accomplishments . The award committee was "especially impressed" and felt that John was "indeed a worthy recipient of this award." Please read all about it here!! National Volunteer of the Year! John Bertrand
  
  
• Financials for The Friends of the Bosque del Apache NWR
  
  
• John Bertrand, the great man behind the Chupadera Peak drive, has sent beautiful wildflower photos from Chupadera ! Wildflowers
  
  

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Friends of The Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge P.O. Box 340 San Antonio, New Mexico 87832 Contact Us

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